Gene Clark - Bye Bye Tomorrow LP

This bootleg of home recordings arrived in the shop with not much context beyond the fact that it was taped on a 4-Track in 1985. I guess in the midst of reforming “The Byrds” in some way, shape or form Clark had the time to whip up a few home demos. The baroque majesty of No Other is largely gone. These are starker and more direct songs, recorded using a couple of guitars, a drum machine, a synth, tons of reverb, and some help from someone else (perhaps Carla Olsen?), replete with coughs and splutters between lines. Some of these songs seem to be circulating as live cuts, but on a cursory web search, it seems like these versions aren’t online. While this seems like an archival oddity for completists (and the price tag gets it into RSD reissue territory), it’s anything but. Clark is haunting on this release. Bedroom attempts at the lush arrangements are even more eerie and Clark’s voice seems to be on the brink of being pushed too far, with his upper register hitting a Tom Petty-like strain on the rocking tracks.
-Mitch